Ireland\u2019s military intelligence service has set up its own training school to grow staff numbers as the unit seeks to significantly expand operations.<\/p>\n
It is also sending officers to US military installations for lengthy training camps to improve the Defence Forces<\/a>\u2019 \u201cintelligence tradecraft\u201d and enable them to operate more efficiently overseas and at home.<\/p>\n The goal is to create a more \u201cadaptive and competent\u201d force, which will have a presence across the country.<\/p>\n It is part of a dramatic overhaul and expansion of the military\u2019s intelligence apparatus.<\/p>\n Other developments include an official renaming of the agency to the Irish Military Intelligence Service (Imis). It was previously known as the Directorate of Military Intelligence, J2 or G2. <\/p>\n A new purpose-built headquarters has been opened in Dublin<\/a>, separate from the training facility, and there are plans for additional secure facilities around the country, starting at the Naval base in Haulbowline, Co Cork.<\/p>\n The developments follow recommendations from the Commission on the Defence Forces<\/a> in 2022 to modernise military intelligence, open up an intelligence school and bring the unit under the control of a brigadier general.<\/p>\n Earlier this year the Coalition\u2019s programme for Government also pledged to \u201creview our military intelligence structures to ensure that our intelligence services are optimised to protect national security<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n Traditionally, the Defence Forces has refused to comment on the activities of military intelligence. Its precise function and its interaction with the Garda Security and Intelligence Service, which retains primary responsibility for State security, are shrouded in secrecy.<\/p>\n [\u00a0Why did An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na give money to Cognyte, an Israeli surveillance company?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n However, the latest issue of An Cosant\u00f3ir, the Defence Forces internal magazine, has published details about developments in the service.<\/p>\n \u201cThe primary role of Imis today is to provide strategic warning to the general staff and the Government of threats to Irish sovereign interests on [the] island and to troops and\/or facilities deployed abroad, a role which has expanded significantly from the G2, J2 roles of old,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n \u201cThe service also plays a role in ensuring national security with other State agencies.\u201d Imis also acts as the State\u2019s external intelligence service, it states. <\/p>\n The Defence Forces Intelligence School, which is based in the Training Centre in the Curragh, Co Kildare, was set up last June.<\/p>\n It will train recruits in various forms of intelligence gathering including human, signal, geospatial and open source intelligence, the publication said.<\/p>\n Fifty three Defence Forces personnel have been chosen for the first \u201cjoint military intelligence qualification course\u201d. This is a \u201cfundamental shift\u201d in how the Defence Forces selects intelligence officers.<\/p>\n